Farm profitability varies widely across northwest Minnesota, even among operations in similar areas. Speaking at the Northland Farm Business Management annual meeting in Crookston, FBM instructor Ron Dvergsten said differences in efficiency and management play a major role. “It’s just not one thing. It’s a series of some producers doing a lot of things more efficiently across the board,” Dvergsten said. Weather variability also remains a major factor. “You can have one area get six, eight, ten inches of rain in one night and create all kinds of havoc, then 20 miles away they get one-inch rains every week and end up with tremendous yields.”
